Monday, August 30, 2004

Well, tomorrow is the day the festival guide comes out. Going to pick it up, then meet a friend a try to decide what films to see this year. Last year we seemed to see a preponderance of Asian films. This year, we've decided to try to spread our films across genres and countries. My friend wants to see an animated film, a documentary, a drama, a comedy, etc., while I want to see something Canadian, something French-Canadian, something English, something French, something Scandanvian, and something Asian. And probably something South African since that's the theme this year. And maybe something based strictly on its picture in the festival guide. I remember two pictures distinctly from last year's guide: one for the Story of the Weeping Camel, and one for a Turkish film that had an incredibily sharp picture. Didn't end up seeing either one, though; maybe we'll take a chance this year. :-)

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Friday, August 13, 2004

I was thinking back to some of the movies I had seen and enjoyed at past festivals. Can't remember if it was in 2001 or 2002, but one I enjoyed was Marion Bridge, starring Molly Parker and Rebecca Jenkins. Set on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, it told a tale of three sisters coming to terms with a dark secret in their past that tore their family apart. Serious and dramatic, with just a hint of humour to keep the film from becoming completely bleak. I stuck around after the movie for the Q&A with the director, Wiebke von Carolsfeld, who had previous been more of a film editor. Think she had just finished putting together the final print days before the festival started. The Q&A sessions are usually pretty interesting, but they can get uncomfortable if no one in the audience can think of a good question; the session for the French movie My Wife is an Actress (which has been playing on TMN the last couple of months) was like that.